david temperley, the cadential iv in rock

7/27/2019 David Temperley, The Cadential IV in Rock

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Example 1. The Landini Cadence

(click to enlarge)

1. Introduction

[1] [1.1] A cadence is a musical gesture, defined by melodic, harmonic,

or rhythmic characteristics or some combination, used to established

closure and sectional articulation. Cadences serve an importantcommunicative function, indicating to the listener when a section is

ending and thus helping to clarify the formal structure of the piece.

Cadences take very different forms in different musical idioms. In

medieval and Renaissance music, cadences are characterized by quite

specific melodic and rhythmic features, such as the Landini cadence of the 14thcentury (Example 1). In common-practice tonal

music, by contrast, cadences are defined harmonically, with considerable variety in their rhythmic and melodic details. For

example, the perfect authentic cadencethe most strongly closural cadence of the stylecan be roughly defined as a root

position V harmony followed by a root position I, with some kind of underlying motion to the tonic in the melody. Similarly, in

jazz, at least through the bebop era, a V-I harmonic cadence is customary at the end of sections and pieces. As a final example

from a very different idiom, cadences play an important role in North Indian classical music; Jairazbhoy 1971notes that many

Indian rags feature characteristic cadential patterns that appear at the ends of phrases and sections.

[1.2] In this paper I will examine the role of cadences in rock. Does rock have cadences, and if so, what are they? My concern

here is with cadences of a large-scale kindthose that end a section or an entire song, rather than merely a phrase. I will arguethat the IV chord plays an important and complex role in large-scale cadences in rock. My main focus will be on what I will call

sectional cadencesthose that occur at the end of a chorus. Among songs that have sectional cadences (many do not), I will

argue that there are two main types, the V-I cadence and the IV-I cadence (some statistical evidence will be provided on this

point); following convention, I will call the latter type a plagal cadence. A particularly common use of the sectional plagal cadence is

one in which the IV and I are separated by a rest in the accompanying instruments, while the vocal continues over the rest and

overlaps into the I and the beginning of the next sectionwhat I call a plagal stop cadence. This cadence raises some

interesting general issues about the way cadential closure is achieved in rock.

[1.3] Beyond the sectional plagal cadence, I will examine several other uses of IV in rock that are in some way cadential. The

Volume 17, Number 1, March 2011Copyright 2011 Society for Music Theory

The Cadential IV in Rock

David Temperley

KEYWORDS: rock, harmony, cadences, popular music

ABSTRACT: In this paper I examine large-scale cadences in rockthose that end a section or an entire songand the role of

IV in such cadences. My main focus is on sectional cadencesthose that occur at the end of a chorus. Plagal (IV-I) sectional

cadences are common in rock, as I will show (using statistical evidence). I examine an especially common subtype of the plagal

cadence, theplagal stop cadence. I also consider several other uses of IV that are in some way cadential. Thegrand plagal cadenceis a

highly emphasized cadence, often accompanied by a fermata, that occurs only once near the end of a song. The deceptive IVis

an occurrence of IV in place of an expected cadential I. Cadential IV chords may also be tonicized, in ways that contribute to

their cadential impact. These various functions of IVthe sectional plagal cadence, the grand plagal cadence, the deceptive IV,

and the tonicized IVcan sometimes be combined in complex ways, such that a single chord can serve several functions at

once.

Received July 2010

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grand plagal cadence is a highly emphasized cadence, often accompanied by a fermata, that occurs only once near the end of a

song. The deceptive IV is an occurrence of IV in place of an expected I; deceptive IV chords often arise in cadential contexts

(though they may also occur elsewhere). Cadential IV chords may also be tonicized, in ways that contribute to their cadential

impact. As we will see, these various functions of IVthe sectional plagal cadence, the grand plagal cadence, the deceptive IV,

and the tonicized IVcan sometimes be combined in complex ways, such that a single chord can serve several functions at once.

[1.4] The general topic of harmony in rock has been the subject of considerable discussion, both in general studies of the style

(Moore 2001, Stephenson 2002, Everett 2004) and in analytical studies of individual songs and artists (e.g. the essays in Covach

and Boone, eds. 1997, Holm-Hudson, ed. 2002,and Everett, ed. 2008). While the views of these authors differ in many respects,

certain basic facts about rock seem self-evident and are accepted by vir tually all authors (though sometimes only implicitly). Firstof all, rock is tonal in the broadest sense; in general, each song has a single pitch center that serves as a point of tonal focus and

stability.(1)Rock is also harmonic, in that most songs can be divided into short segments governed by harmonies or chords. (The

harmonic progression of a rock song may not govern the pitches as strongly as in common-practice music, however; see

Temperley 2007for discussion.) With regard to form, while there is considerable variety, the vast majority of rock songs feature

some kind of large repeating section; I will call this the verse-chorus unitor VCU.(2)The VCU normally consists of a verse (with

different lyrics on each occurrence) and chorus (with unchanging lyrics). (In some cases the chorus may be only a single line, in

which case it is more commonly called a refrain; I will use the term VCU in these cases as well.) Nearly all songs begin with two

iterations of the VCU; after the second VCU, a number of things may happen, such as a third VCU (or chorus), an instrumental

section, a bridge, or some combination of these.

[1.5] One issue we must consider before continuing is the definition of rock itself. Rock is construed in a variety of ways:

sometimes as a relatively narrow category of popular music, alongside other categories such as pop, soul, and rap; sometimes as a

much broader category embracing most late-20th-century Anglo-American popular music (see de Clercq and Temperley,

forthcoming, for discussion). It is the narrower construal of rock that I will assume here; I will not try to define it moreprecisely than that, but it is reflected in the range of examples used in this paper.

2. Sectional Cadences in Rock

[2.1] The issue of cadences in rockwhether rock has cadences, what they are, and how they functionhas received relatively

little attention. Everett (2004, 2008) mentions cadences in a number of analytical discussions, and allows for a variety of

formulae to serve this role, including V-I, VII-IV-I, and VI- VII-I; Moore 1995) argues for VII-I as an important cadential

formula. A more extended discussion of cadences is found in Ken Stephensons book What to Listen For in Rock(Stephenson

2002, 5372). Stephenson suggests that cadences in rock occur in two ways: first, when the melody comes to rest on the fourth

downbeat of a four-measure hypermeasure; second, when the melody comes to rest anywhere that there is a I or V harmony.

When both of these criteria are met, and when the melody also ends on , the cadential effect is especially strong; Stephenson

calls this a closed cadence. Cadences that meet just one or two of these three criteria are open cadences. Stephenson notes that, in

general, open cadences are much more common than closed cadences in rock; many songs feature no closed cadence at all.

[2.2] Here I will propose a definition of cadence that is somewhat different from Stephensons. This is due in part to a differencein focus: while Stephensons definition includes cadences that merely end a phrase, my focus (as stated above) is on more

large-scale cadences. As mentioned earlier, most songs feature a large repeating unit containing a verse and a chorus or refrain;

indeed, many songs consist almost entirely of repetitions of the VCU. Thus a logical place to look for large-scale cadences in

rock is at the end of the VCU; I will call these sectional cadences.

[2.3] What kinds of factors serve to create a sense of closure and arrival at the end of a chorus? Stephenson notes correctly that

there are harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic aspects to cadential closure, and that the cadential effect is strongest when these

features coincide. It seems logical to suppose that the strongest sense of closure occurs with harmonic motion to I, and that is

what I will assume for sectional cadences. Stephenson is surely right, also, in saying that the normal location for aphrasalcadence

is on the final measure of a four-measure unit. But sectionalcadences very often occur on hypermetrically strong measures (that is,

on the first or third measure of a four-measure unit), even in common-practice music; indeed, it has been suggested that

hypermetrically strong placement gives a cadence greater structural weight (I will return to this point). And Stephenson himself

acknowledges that cadences in rock are frequently, perhaps even normally, hypermetrically strong (Stephenson 2002, 7. Thus, the

requirement of weak hypermetrical placement seems to have little justification with regard to sectional cadences.

[2.4] With regard to melodic closure, one obvious criterion for a sectional cadence is that it should occur at the end of the vocal

line of the VCU; in most cases, this can be identified without difficulty. One might also add Stephensons criterion that the vocal

line must end on ; my definition does not include this criterion, however. While in most cases the vocal line of the chorus does

end on , this is not, in my opinion, a requirement for strong closure. The Beatles A Hard Days Night, for example (Example

2b), is able to achieve a strong sense of cadence with melodic arrival on (the same point could be made about several other

examples to be discussed below). Thus, we will simply require that a sectional cadence must occur at the end of the vocal line.

Combining this with the harmonic criterion stated above produces the following definition:

Definition: A sectional cadencein rock occurs when the end of the vocal line of the VCU approximately coincides


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Example 2. Five sectional cadences

(click to enlarge and see the rest)

Example 3. Creedence Clearwater Revival, Proud Mary

(click to enlarge)

with a move to tonic harmony.

[2.5] Five examples of sectional cadences are shown in

Example 2. It is important to emphasize that, by the

above definition, the end of the vocal line must coincide

with a moveto tonic harmony. In some cases, the end of

the vocal line occurs over a tonic harmony that began

earlier. In Example 3, for instance, the move to I

occurs at the beginning of the chorus; the end of the

vocal line follows several measures later. By the currentdefinition, then, there is no sectional cadence here. This

follows from Stephensons suggestion that closure is

strongest when cadential cues coincide. Harmonically, it

is generally assumed (certainly in common-practice

music) that the moment of closure occurs when the

final tonic harmony is first reached; naturally, then, the

sense of cadence will be strongest when this coincides

with melodic closure (that is, the end of the vocal line).

Note, however, that the coincidence of the move to

tonic and the end of the vocal line need only be

approximate. In many cases, the last syllable of the vocal line is syncopated and lands one beat or half a beat before the move

to I, as in Example 2a. (In such cases, I would argue that the last note of the vocal is actually heard as belonging on the

downbeat; see Temperley 1999.) In other cases the final stressed syllable coincides with the tonic arrival and is then followed by

one or two unstressed syllables, as in Example 2d. In my opinion, such slight asynchronies between melodic and harmonicclosure still allow a strong sense of cadential arrival to be felt.

[2.6] A word of explanation is in order about the harmonic notation I will use here. It seems appropriate to use functional

notation, as most songs have a clear tonal center. However, the notion of major and minor keys is not usually applicable to rock.

So for notational purposes I will simply assume that all songs are in major; harmonies built on minor scale degrees will be

notated as altered chords (for example, III and VI). Following a common convention, I use upper-case Roman numerals for

major triads and lower-case for minor triads. (Open fifths, which arise quite frequently in rock, are simply notated as major.)

[2.7] One other factor that seems to play a role in cadential closure is what might be called distinctiveness. In many songs, the

harmonic structure consists largely or even entirely of a simple repeated harmonic pattern, often two or four chords, that moves

between I and other harmonies. If the end of the chorus vocal happens to coincide with the move to I within this pattern, this is

considered a cadence by the definition above; Free Fallin, in Example 2d, is a case in point. But it might be argued that there is

nothing very cadential about this; a strong sense of cadence can only be achieved by a harmonic gesture that is somehow

distinctive from the rest of the song. I decided not to include this criterion in my definition, since it is difficult to judge in an

objective way; but I would concede that it plays a significant role in the closural effect of a cadence.

[2.8] By the above definition, it is clearly not obligatory for a song to have a sectional cadence, and indeed many songs do not. As

just mentioned, in some songs, the VCU ends on tonic harmony but the end of the vocal line does not coincide with the move

to tonic. Another common occurrence is that the vocal line of the chorus does not end over tonic harmony at all. There are

many examples of this, including the Eagles Hotel California, AC/DCs Back in Black, and Nirvanas Come as you Are.

In such cases, the VCU tends to end not with a sense of closure but rather with a sense of incompleteness and anticipation for

the beginning of the next VCU. In other cases, there is not really any VCU at allthat is, the song is not built around any large

repeating section of music (examples include through-composed epics such as Led Zeppelins Stairway to Heaven and Queens

Bohemian Rhapsody); thus, there can be no sectional cadence by our definition. (3) In still other cases, the presence and

location of a cadence are uncertainsometimes because it is not clear where exactly the vocal of the VCU ends (and thus, what

harmony it coincides with); the VCU may end with improvised interjections (yeah yeah etc.) or background vocal activity, and

it is not always obvious whether to consider these part of the main vocal line.

[2.9] I will argue, nevertheless, that many songs do have clear sectional cadences. One might ask, how many is manyin whatproportion of songs do sectional cadences occur? A second question is also important: If a song does have a sectional cadence,

what is the pre-tonic chordthe chord immediately preceding the tonic? I now present some statistical evidence on these

questions.

3. Some Statistics

[3.1] Recently, Trevor de Clercq and I have undertaken a statistical analysis of rock harmony (de Clercq and Temperley,

forthcoming). The corpus we used was Rolling Stone Magazines list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (2004). The list was

compiled by asking 172 people in the music industry (musicians and critics) to list what they considered the greatest songs of


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Table 1. Distribution of chromatic roots in the RS 5x20 corpus

(de Clercq & Temperley)

(click to enlarge)

Table 2. Chord transitions in the RS 5x20 corpus (de Clercq &

Temperley)

(click to enlarge)

Table 3. The RS 200 List, showing sectional cadences as

identified by Temperley (DT) and Trevor de Clercq (TdC)

the Rock and Roll era. We chose this corpus simply because it seemed to provide a varied sample of songs that are generally

considered to be rock. Our choice of this corpus could be criticized in various ways. While the corpus covers a wide historical

range (from 1954 to 2003), it is heavily biased towards the 1960s; more than half of the songs are from this decade. Moreover,

many of those polled seem to have assumed a very broad construal of rock, including soul, pop, rap, and other genres. (As noted

earlier, my focus in this paper is on rock in a more narrowly defined sense.) Still, the Rolling Stonecorpus seemed the best one

available for our project, and is also suitable for my purpose here.

[3.2] For our corpus study, we chose a subset of 99 songs from the Rolling Stonelist: the 20 highest-ranked songs from each of

the five decades from the 1950s through the 1990s (excluding one song, Public Enemys Bring the Noise, which was judged

not to contain any triadic harmony). We call this the RS 5x20 Corpus. Both de Clercq and I analyzed each of the 99 songsourselves, using conventional Roman numeral notation. Harmonic analysis is, of course, somewhat subjective; it is sometimes

debatable, for example, whether something is a chord or simply an ornamental linear event. There was, however, a high degree of

agreement between our analyses: 92.4% of the time, our chord labels were in agreement on both root and key. The data (the list

of songs and our analyses) are publicly available, and readers can form their own opinions as to the validity of the corpus (as a

representation of rock) as well as the validity of our analyses.(4)

[3.3] Having analyzed all the songs in the corpus, we

then subjected our analyses to aggregate data analyses

of various kinds, averaging the statistics across the two

sets of analyses (de Clercqs and mine). Here I report

just a few results that are especially relevant to the

current study. InTable 1, the left-most column shows

the sheer number of occurrences (as a proportion of

the total) of each harmony, represented in relation tothe tonic. (Only roots are represented here, not chord

qualities; we do not distinguish between, for example,

major and minor I. We also assume enharmonic

equivalence; thus V and IV are collapsed into one

category.) Not surprisingly, I is the most common; next

most frequent is IV, then V, then VII. Table 2

represents the frequency of different harmonic

transitionsmoves from one harmony to another. The

vertical axis represents the antecedent harmony and

the horizontal axis represents the consequent; thus,

for example, there were 392 occurrences of V moving

to IV. Of particular interest is the frequency of different

chords immediately preceding I (the left-most column

of Table 2). It can be seen that IV is the most commonpre-tonic harmony by a considerable margin; V is the

next most common. Moreover, the frequency of IV in

pre-tonic position is somewhat higher than its overall

frequency; this can be seen from Table 1, which shows

the frequency of each chord in pre-tonic position (the

rightmost column) as well as its overall frequency

among all non-tonic chords (the middle column). Thus,

not only is IV the most common non-tonic harmony

overall, but it seems to appear particularly often in a

pre-tonic position.


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(click to enlarge and see the rest)

Table 4. Pre-tonic harmonies in sectional cadences in the RS 200

list, as labeled in Table 3 (from Temperleys data only), in

descending order of frequency

(click to enlarge)

[3.4] We did some further analyses relating specifically to

cadences (these are not reported in de Clercq and

Temperley, forthcoming). For this purpose, we used a

somewhat larger subset of the Rolling Stonelist: the 99

songs in the RS 5x20 set, as well as the 101 highest-

ranked songs on the list that were notin the RS 5x20 set,

creating a set of 200 songs overall (I will call this the RS

200 list). We then examined each song to see if it

contained a sectional cadence, using the definitionpresented in section 1 above, and if so, what the

pre-tonic harmony was.Table 3shows the complete list

of songs, along with the cadences as judged by de

Clercq and myself. For simplicity, I will henceforth

consider my own judgments only; the aggregate data for

these is presented inTable 4.(5)Out of the 200 songs in

the list, 118 have cadences, or 59%. It can be seen that V is the most common pre-tonic cadential harmony, by a considerable

margin; 32% of the songs in the list have authentic (V-I) sectional cadences. IV is the second most common option; 18.5% of

the songs have plagal cadences. Other options VII, II, VI, VI, and VIIare all relatively rare, each accounting for less than

5% of the total.

[3.5] A clear pattern emerges from the data, with V as the most common pre-tonic cadential harmony, and IV as a strong second.

I would argue, however, that the relative frequency of IV in rock cadences is somewhat understated by this list. Many of the

songs with V as pre-tonic could only be considered rock by an extremely broad definition, such as Ray Charless Georgia onMy Mind, Bob Dylans The Times They Are A-Changin, and Hank Williamss Im So Lonesome. By contrast, the songs

with IV as pre-tonic mostly seem to fall within a narrower definition of rock (though there are a few exceptions, such as Bob

Marleys No Woman No Cry and James Browns Papas Got a Brand New Bag). This of course brings us to very difficult

questions of stylistic boundaries. But even if one accepts the Rolling Stonelist at face value as a sample of rock, IV emerges as one

very common option for the cadential pre-tonic harmony.

[3.6]Table 4(like Tables 1 and 2) only categorizes harmonies by root and does not represent different chord qualities. Table 3

doesrepresent such distinctions, however, and it can be seen there that in the vast majority of plagal cadences, the IV chord is

major. In my analyses, only two out of the 37 plagal cadences have minor IV chords. (In a few cases, e.g. Creedence Clearwater

Revivals Fortunate Son, the IV chord is simply an open fifth; these cases are categorized as major in Table 3.) As will be seen

in the examples that follow, the cadential IV in rock tends to be major even in cases where tonic harmony in the song is

predominantly minor. This illustrates the well-known fact that the major-minor system of common-practice music simply does

not apply to rock. One could adopt modal reasoning here, with IV-I cadences representing Ionian (or Mixolydian) mode and IV-i

representing Dorian (Moore 2001). Alternatively, and preferably in my view, one could attribute the preponderance of major IV

chords to the general preference for major over minor triads in rock harmony. This raises complex issues of chord palette (as

Stephenson 2002calls it) and scale collection in rock; I hope to address this topic in future work, but will have little more to say

about it here.

[3.7] If IV and V are the most common pre-tonic cadential chords in rock, one might ask why this is so. The prevalence of V

can be explained relatively easily. By all accounts, common-practice harmony was an important influence in the evolution of

rocks musical languagenot so much through common-practice art music as through vernacular styles such as Tin Pan Alley

and country music that share the same basic principles (Middleton 1990, Everett 2004). Given the centrality of the V-I cadence

in common-practice harmony, it is hardly surprising that this pattern was retained in rock to some extent.

[3.8] The frequency of the IV-I cadence is not so easy to explain.(6)Stephenson 2002points out that the IV-I cadence allows to

be maintained throughout the cadence (as it is a chord-tone of both chords), which may be desirable in some way; on the other

hand, the same is true of vi-I and VI-I, which are extremely rare in rock cadences (see Table 4). Stephenson also suggests that

root motion by ascending fifths (descending fourths) may be normative in rock (this is an aspect of what he calls rock-

standard harmony). In our study, however, we found motion by ascending and descending fifths to be roughly equally commonoverall (de Clercq and Temperley, forthcoming).

[3.9] One might trace the cadential IV to the blues. One of the two standard forms of the blues progression features IV as a

cadential pre-tonic harmony, progression (B) below:

(A) I | IV | I | | IV | | I | | V | | I | |

(B) I | IV | I | | IV | | I | | V | IV | I | |

Several of the early, blues-based rock songs in the Rolling Stonelist feature progression (B), such as Little Richards Long Tall

Sally and Big Joe Turners Shake, Rattle and Roll. Everett 2004suggests that the final IV in the blues progression emerged as


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Example 4. Heart, Barracuda

(click to enlarge)

Example 5. The essential features of the plagal stop cadence

(click to enlarge)

Table 5. Songs with plagal stop cadences

an interpolation between V and I, creating a softened authentic cadence; Doll 2007applies this view to later rock, advocating a

similar analysis of the VII-IV-I progression (with the VII functioning as dominant). In general, I would suggest, it is not

plausible to view the cadential IV in rock as an interpolation. Our data show that IV is the most common pre-tonic chord in rock

in general, and it is commonly approached by a variety of other chords: not just V and VII, but II, III, VI, and others as well

(see Table 2). However, it may be that the cadential IV initiallyarose as an interpolation, in the blues progression and related

contexts, and later began to function more independently.

[3.10] For now, we will not inquire further as to the historical reasons for the emergence of the IV-I cadence in rock, but merely

take note of it as an important feature of the style. We now consider a specific usage of the cadential IV that is of particular

interest.

4. The Plagal Stop Cadence

[4.1] Example 4 shows the first chorus of

Barracuda, by Heart. The song clearly

establishes a tonal center of E. Notice several

features at the end of the VCU. In measure 35,

the bass and guitar play an A harmony (just an

open fifth): IV in relation to E. The IV chord is

then sounded staccato on the downbeat of

measure 36, leaving the rest of the measure

essentially empty. The vocal line continues

through this empty measure, finally ending its

phrase at the beginning of the following

measure. At this downbeat, the other

instruments enter on a I chord, ending the first

VCU. Given the coincidence of the end of the

vocal line and the final I, this is clearly a

sectional cadence by the definition proposed

earlier. At the same time, the I chord is also

understood as beginning the second VCU (the

material here is from the introduction to the

song); thus there is a sectional overlap between

the first VCU and the second (marked by

brackets above the score).

[4.2] The complex of features just described in

Barracuda will be referred to here as theplagal

stop cadence. To define this somewhat moreformally:

Definition. A plagal stop cadence has the following features:

In the instruments,

a harmonic arrival on IV on a downbeat, followed by rests or a break in the accompaniment texture (I will

refer to this as a stop);

1.

a move to I on a subsequent downbeat (often the next downbeat, but not always), coinciding with the

beginning of the next VCU;

2.

In the vocals, a melodic line that continues through the stop with the phrase finishing on or near the move to I.

These features are illustrated in Example 5.

[4.3] Table 5 gives a list of songs in which the plagal stop

cadence occurs. Of course, as noted earlier, only some rock

songs contain any sectional cadence; only some of these

cadences are plagal; and only a fraction of these plagal cadences

are plagal stop cadences. Even so, I believe this cadence is

common enough to be worthy of study. No doubt, it is

common because it is a highly effective way of conveying

sectional closureBarracuda is a case in point. But then the

question arises, why is it so effective? With regard to the

harmonic aspect of the cadence, the effectiveness of the IV-I


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(click to enlarge)

Example 6. Survivor, Eye of the Tiger

(click to enlarge)

progression may simply be due to its widespread use in rock

cadences generally (discussed in the previous section) and its

resulting closural associations. (Again, the more general question

of why IV should be so commonly used in rock cadences is not

easily answered.) But the rhythmic and textural aspects of the

plagal stop cadence also deserve attention; I will argue that they

contribute to the closural effect of the cadence in a complex

and subtle way.

[4.4] Let us first consider the function of the accompanyinginstruments. A downbeat IV chord is followed by rests, or by a

break in the accompaniment texture. The latter may simply

involve the decay of the downbeat IV chord; in some cases

there may be some fill activity in the drums or other

instruments. But in all cases, there is a sense that the usual

accompaniment pattern of the song has been momentarily

interrupted. It is well-known that a rest or break in texture can

serve as a cue to a phrasal or sectional boundary. In a two-part

form such as a Baroque suite movement or sonata form

movement, the cadence at the end of the first half is generally

marked by a long chord or rest, separating it from the second

half. Notice also that, in Barracuda as in a number of the other songs in Table 5, the measure of the staccato IV chord

(measure 36) is the fourth measure of a hypermeasure. (It seems clear that a hypermeasure begins in measure 29at the

beginning of the chorusand another one in measure 33.) This, too, is appropriate, for it is common for phrases and sections toend at the end of a hypermeasure (though as noted earlier, it also common for them not to do so). Now, it would seem odd to

claim that the staccato IV chord marks the end of the VCU; rather, the end of the VCU is surely the following I, which achieves

tonal closure and also supports the end of the vocal line. So the stop actually occurs just beforethe end of the VCU, rather than

between one VCU and the next. But we could argue, perhaps, that the stop still acts as a cue that a sectional boundary is

occurring somewhere in the vicinity.

[4.5] If we accept that the VCU really ends with the I chord immediately following the stop, this creates a sectional overlap, as the

following VCU clearly begins at this point as well. This overlap is reinforced by the vocal line, which, as I observed earlier,

continues through the stop to conclude its phrase at the arrival on I. In a way, this overlap might be seen to obscure the sectional

boundary between one VCU and the next. But in another way it reinforces the sense of closure and arrival here, because it places

the real end of the sectionthe end of the vocal line as well as the harmonic return to Ion a hypermetrical downbeat. A

number of authors, especially Schachter, have argued that the placement of a cadential arrival at a metrically strong position can

give it extra weight Schachter 1980; this is often found in the structural cadence of a sonata exposition, for example. In this way,

I would argue, the rhythmic-textural pattern seen in the plagal stop cadence gives multiple, and perhaps conflicting, cues toclosure. The stop after the IV chordusually at the end of a four-measure hypermeasurehints at a sectional ending, since this

is a common position hypermetrically for sectional boundaries to occur. At the same time (or rather, a moment later), the

sectional overlap created by the vocal line and the harmony conveys closure in another way, by aligning the cadential arrival with

a hypermetrical downbeat.

[4.6] Essential to the plagal stop cadence are

three features: a IV-I progression; a sectional

overlap, with the end of the vocal line

coinciding with the arrival on I and the

beginning of the next section; and a stop in the

instruments just before the I. The cadences in

the songs in Table 5 possess all three of these

features.(7) The features can also appear

individually, however; many cadences reflect just

one or two of the three. For example, the

cadence in Survivors Eye of the Tiger

(Example 6) is very similar to a plagal stop

cadence but using VI rather than IV as the penultimate harmony; this more general patternwith all the features of the plagal

stop cadence except the IVmight simply be called a stop cadence. A number of other songs feature what is essentially a plagal

stop cadence, but without the stop: the accompaniment continues through the IV chord without interruption. Elton Johns

Bennie and the Jets, John Mellencamps Little Pink Houses, and Counting Crows Einstein on the Beach are examples of

this. Still other cases feature a plagal stop in the instruments, but the vocal line continues only part way into the stop without

overlapping into the next section; examples include Billy Squiers Everybody Wants You, Elvis Costellos Chelsea, EMFs


8/17

Example 7. Huey Lewis and the News, I Want a New Drug

(click to enlarge)

Example 8. Led Zeppelin, Whole Lotta Love

Unbelievable, and Alanis Morrisettes You Oughta Know. (One might say this last pattern differs rather fundamentally from

the plagal stop cadence, since arguably, in this case, there is no sectional overlap.)

[4.7] While each of the individual features of the plagal stop cadence occurs in other contexts, their use in combination is

especially commonmore common, I would suggest, than the frequency of the individual features would lead us to predict. For

example, V-I cadences are generally at least as common as IV-I cadencesas shown earlierbut V-I stop cadences are relatively

rare.(8)We might well think of the plagal stop cadence as a kind of schema (Gjerdingen 2007), as it involves a cluster of features

that commonly occur together, though individual exemplars may be more or less typical. While I have tried to explain why each

of the individual features of the cadence contributes to closure, there remains the question of why this particular combinationof

features is so effective. For example, why is the stop cadence pattern so often used with a IV-I progression rather than with V-I?The V-I cadence is of course ubiquitous in other kinds of musiccommon-practice art music as well as early 20th-century

popular song, folk music, and the like. For this reason, it may be that it tends to be used in rock in ways that conform to this

earlier usage: with no sectional overlap or stop, and with a hypermetrically weak tonic. The IV-I cadence, by contrast, comes with

relatively little stylistic baggage and thus is open to more innovative rhythmic and textural treatments.

[4.8] As noted above, the plagal stop cadence

generally features a downbeat IV chord on the

fourth measure of a hypermeasure, leading to a

I chord on the following hyperdownbeat. This

is the case in many of the songs in Table 5, such

as Back in the USSR, When I Come

Around, and Blue on Black. In some cases,

however, the IV chord leads to an extension of

the phrase, and along with this, an irregularity inthe hypermeter. In I Want A New Drug,

shown in Example 7, the IV chord lands on

the midpoint of the fourth measure of the

hypermeasure, but is then extended. The

extension of the IV harmony makes the beat on

which it lands seem, in retrospect, metrically

strong rather than weak, as shown by the

barlines in the example; this is a case of what Rothstein 1989calls metrical reinterpretation. Another reinterpretation occurs

1!measures later; the beat of the I chord, which is approached (again) as metrically weak, is unquestionably heard as strong

when it arrives, due to the change of harmony, the change of texture, the clear formal division (i.e. the beginning of the next

VCU), and the stressed syllable you in the vocal. The phrase extension here serves two functions: first, to add emphasis to the

structurally important IV chord and the cadence as a whole; secondly, to add an element of complexity and interest to what

might otherwise seem an overly square phrase structure.

[4.9] So far, I have simply spoken of the VCU without specifying which occurrence of the VCU is at issue. By definition, the

VCU occurs at least two times in a song, often more, and in general, each occurrence is the same with regard to the features at

issue here: in particular, harmony, melody, and texture do not usually vary significantly from one occurrence of the VCU to the

next. One thing that doesvary is what occurs afterthe VCU. The definition of the plagal stop cadence above requires a sectional

overlap, in which the end of one VCU is simultaneously the beginning of the next. Clearly, not every VCU can be followed by

another VCU; otherwise the song would never end! Thus this aspect of the definition applies primarily to the boundary between

the first and second VCUs. The second VCU may be followed by a third VCU (perhaps with an instrumental solo taking the

place of the third verse, as in The Last Time); more often, however, the VCU is followed by contrasting material, such as a

bridge (as in Wont Get Fooled Again or Back in the USSR). But even in this case, this third section often begins with

material from the introductiongenerally, the basic chord progression or riff of the songso that what follows the second

VCU is virtually identical to what follows the first one; this is often the case with the third VCU (if there is one) as well.

5. The Grand Plagal Cadence

[5.1] Example 8shows a passage from the endof Led Zeppelins Whole Lotta Love. The

song begins with two occurrences of the VCU,

followed by an extended instrumental consisting

largely of guitar sound effects and orgasmic

moans without definite pitch, followed by

another verse and chorus. The entire song up to

this point has been extremely stat ic

harmonically, consisting entirely (except for the

mostly non-harmonic instrumental section) of


9/17

(click to enlarge)

Table 6. Songs with grand plagal cadences

(click to enlarge)

Example 9. Led Zeppelin, Stairway to Heaven

(click to enlarge)

Example 10. Crosby, Stills, & Nash, Wasted on the Way

repetitions of the famous rifftonic harmony,

arguably elaborated by brief V and VII chords.

At the end of the third chorus, the tempo is suspended and the passage in Example 8 follows: a vocal phrase, then a brief I

chord and a much longer IV, then another vocal phrasejust a very elongated loveleading into the return of tonic harmony

and the riff, which repeats into the final fadeout.

[5.2] It seems reasonable to regard the IV-I progression in

Example 8 as forming a large-scale cadence. Certainly it

provides a sense of closure and finality. It is not a sectional

cadence (by the definition proposed earlier): It occurs only oncein the song, not at the end of each VCU. I will call such a

cadence a grand cadencenot only because of its large-scale

structural importance (clearly acting as the main cadence for the

entire song) but because it tends to have a grandiose and

momentous effect. I define a grand cadence simply as a

harmonic gesture that occurs only once in a song, near the end,

and has a cadential impact; in most cases (though not all), the

pre-tonic harmony is accompanied by a fermata. Grand cadences are quite rare; normally, a song ends with material that has been

heard earlier, such as a repetition of the chorus (with or without a fadeout), and there is rarely a fermata. (Perhaps the effect of

grand cadences is partly due to their rarity.) What is interesting is that, in virtually every grand cadence that I have found, the

harmony preceding the I is IV.Table 6provides a list of songs containing grand cadences; the pre-tonic harmony is IV in every

case. Somehow, for reasons that are not obvious, IV functions especially well in grand cadences. This is evident not only from the

statistical frequency of IV in grand cadences, but from its effect. I invite the reader to consider what the effect would be if

another harmony were substituted for IV in Whole Lotta Love. V seems lame (like a gratuitious and inappropriate reference tocommon-practice harmony); III, ii, vi, and other more remote alternatives are just weird. VI and VII are not impossible; but

IV seems by far the most satisfactory alternative.

[5.3] In each of songs in Table 6, we find a IV-I cadence that only occurs once, near the end of the song.(9)In all cases, the IV is

emphasized and expanded; in all but two cases it coincides with a fermata (the exceptions are Say You Love Me and

Somebody to Love). In Back in Black and Somebody to Love, as in Whole Lotta Love, the IV follows the final chorus

and the following I begins a fadeout or coda. In Get Back, Long Train Runnin, and Say You Love Me, the cadence is

really at the end of the final chorus; in each case, in fact, the IV substitutes for the final I (an interesting phenomenon to which I

will return) and then moves directly to I.

[5.4] Stairway to Heaven offers a unique and

interesting grand cadence (Example 9). In

keeping with our definition, this cadence occurs

only once, near the end of the song; as is

typical, it occurs over a fermata (at least, it

begins over a fermata). As usual, the IV chord is

major; as noted earlier, this is true of the vast

majority of plagal cadences in rock, even when

the surrounding tonic harmonies are

predominantly minor, as in this case. The IV of

the cadence is, however, prolonged to a much greater extent than in the other cases in Table 6, lasting some 23 seconds; and it is

elaborated by other harmonies, notably two prominent III chords, the second of which leads to VII6and then to i. The

cadence is somewhat atypical, also, in that there is a substantial section of new material following it (though harmonically it never

moves far from tonic, simply repeating a i-(VII)- VI progression). But the expansive character of both the cadence itself and

the section that follows seems appropriate given the large scale of the song as a whole. This remarkable IV chord will be

discussed further below.

6. The Deceptive IV

[6.1] Example 10shows the end of the VCU

of Wasted on the Way, by Crosby, Stills, &

Nash. The harmony supporting the final syllable

-wayat least, the beginning of this

syllableis not I, but IV. (The syllable is

syncopated, but is understood to coincide with

the IV.) Thus, this is arguably not a sectional

cadence by the definition proposed earlier.

However, a I chord immediately follows, and


10/17

(click to enlarge)

Example 11. Doobie Brothers, Long Train Runnin (A) End of

choruses 1-4; (B) end of fifth chorus

(click to enlarge)

Example 12. Alice in Chains, No Excuses

(click to enlarge)

Example 13. Wallflowers, One Headlight

the final syllable is extended over the tonic

harmony (with the pitches shift ing

appropriately). Moreover, and more importantly

for the current argument, it could well be

argued that the expectedchord at the point where

the final syllable arrives (where the IV occurs) is

I. The chord preceding the IV in Wasted on

the Way is V; from Table 2, it can be seen that

V moves much more commonly to I than to IV,

and V-I cadences are very common in rock, as

we have seen. The IV-V progression preceding

the IV has occurred several times previously in the VCU, usually leading to I (and never to IV). It could be argued, then, that the

IV is a substitute for an expected I chord: we will call this a deceptiveIV. The following I chord leads to a clear sectional boundary,

completing the VCU. Thus, while the final syllable does not literally coincide with the final move to I, it falls where this move is

expected, and the final I follows shortly thereafter; this allows a strong sense of sectional closure to be achieved.(10)

[6.2] The situation illustrated by Example 10 has something in common with the V-vi deceptive cadence in common-practice

music. In both cases, an expectation for I is created and then denied as another chord takes its place. Like vi, IV contains the

tonic scale-degree, and thus can naturally support a melodic move to .(11)(This possibility is not really exploited in Wasted on

the Wayexcept arguably by the lowest of the three vocal partsbut is clearly seen in other examples discussed below.) The

common-practice deceptive cadence is normally followed by a true cadence moving to I; this is sometimes seen in rock as well, as

shown in Example 10 (but not always, as we will see). Like the common-practice V-vi cadence, the deceptive use of IV could

be said to undercut the sense of closure in a way, but also heightens the sense of anticipation that a real cadence will eventually

follow. One important difference between the deceptive IV of rock and the common-practice deceptive vi is that IV in rock canvery naturally function as a pre-tonic cadential chord, moving directly to I, while the vi in common-practice music cannot

function in this way; it must find its way to V (usually via an additional ii or IV chord) in order for a true cadence to occur. We

will return to this point below.

[6.3] In discussing musical expectations, it is

useful to distinguish between schematic and

contextual expectations. Schematic expectations

arise from general regularities of a stylefor

example, the strong tendency for V to go to I in

common-practice music. Contextual

expectations arise from previous events within a

piecefor example, the repeated IV-V-I

progressions in Wasted on the Way.(12)At the

V chord at the end of the chorus in Wasted onthe Way, the expectation for I is both

schematic and contextual. Contextual

expectations may be especially strong if the deceptive IV occurs only in thefinalchorus of a song, with earlier choruses moving

directly to I. (This is the case in two Beatles songs, Think for Yourself and Strawberry Fields Forever.) A connection arises

here with the grand plagal cadence, discussed earlier. In some cases, a grand cadence arises when the cadential I of the final VCU

is replaced by a IV chord, which then moves to I. This is true, for example, in Say You Love Me and Long Train Runnin

(Example 11).(13) Clearly, the IV is functioning deceptively here, as preceding VCUs have created a strong contextual

expectation for I. A similar situation occurs in Stairway to Heaven (Example 9). In this case, the IV is not at the end of the

VCU; however, the preceding material (the first measure of the example) has appeared several times earlier in the song, always

leading to i, thus another i is clearly expected.

[6.4] While deceptive IV chords often occur in

the context of sectional or grand plagal

cadences, in some cases they do not. An

interesting case in point is the IV chord at the

end of the chorus of Alice in Chains No

Excuses, shown in Example 12. In some

respects, this example is similar to Example 10.

The harmony preceding the IV is VII. Table 2

shows that, while VII often moves to IV, it

moves to I even more often; thus a schematic

expectation for I is created. Moreover, the final

(second) line of the chorus (You find me


11/17

(click to enlarge)

Example 14. Three uses of the deceptive IV at

the end of the VCU (X represents an

unspecified harmony before the IV)

(click to enlarge)

Example 15. Nazareth, Love Hurts

(click to enlarge)

Example 16. The Who, Bargain

sitting by myself...) is a varied repetition of the

first line (Everyday its something...), which

doesmove to I at the point where the second line

moves to IV; thus the expectation for I is

contextual as well. Like deceptive IV chords

seen in previous examples, the IV in Example

12 moves directly to I. In this case, however

(unlike in Wasted on the Way), it is really the

IV that ends the VCU; the I that follows is the

beginning of the second VCU, not the end of

the first. (Possibly one could argue for a sectional overlap here, with the I functioning as the end of the first VCU and the

beginning of the second; but since there is no overlap in the vocal line, this would seem to have little justification.) Yet another

use of the deceptive IV at the end of the VCU is illustrated by the Wallflowers One Headlight (Example 13). Here there is

clearly a sectional overlap; the vocal of the first VCU ends (with the syllable light) as the second VCU begins. The previous V

chord creates an expectation for I at the point of overlap; a deceptive IV occurs instead. The IV moves to I, but the I is not a

point of harmonic arrival; rather, it is simply part of the IV-I-V/vi-vi progression that repeats throughout the verse. Thus, one

could hardly speak of a IV-I cadence here; rather, the first VCU endsinconclusivelyon the IV chord at the point of overlap.

[6.5] Examples 10, 12, and 13 represent three different uses of the

deceptive IV. In each case, an expectation is created for I near the end

of the VCU; a IV occurs instead, then moving directly to I. The

difference between the three cases is in the alignment of the IV-I

progression with the sectional boundary (see Example 14). In Example

10, the IV-I progression falls within the first VCU, before the sectionalboundary (pattern A in Example 14); in Example 12, the boundary falls

after the IV but before the I (pattern B); in Example 13, the IV both

ends the first VCU and begins the second, creating an overlap (pattern

C). Thus, it is only in the first of these three cases that the VCU actually

ends on I; and it is only in this case that we might (arguably) posit a

sectional cadence. For that reason, Example 10 creates a sense of

closure and completion; Examples 12 and 13, by contrast, feel

open-ended and anticipatory.(14)

7. The Tonicized Cadential IV

[7.1] Consider Example 15, the end of the chorus of

Nazareths Love Hurts. The chorus ends with a clear sectional

plagal cadence, IV-I in G; the IV chord is preceded by VII. The

progression VII-IV in G also allows another possible

interpretation, however: as IV-I in C. In general, as can be seen

from Table 2, IV-I is the most common of all two-chord

progressions in rock, so interpreting F major-C major as IV-I is

a very natural possibility. I would argue, then, that IV undergoes

a subtle tonicization here: it is momentarily reinterpreted as a local tonic, though one that is clearly subordinate to the larger tonic

of G. Now, I am not claiming that VII-IV is always understood as a tonicization of IV; very often, it is not. Such an

interpretation usually requires some kind of special support or encouragement from the musical surface. In the case of Love

Hurts, the melisma on ooh seems to bind the VII and the IV together into a single gesture; one feels that the VII

resolves into the IV in some way, and is thus structurally subordinate to it. As with the deceptive IV, the tonicization of a

cadential IV does not weaken its cadential function, and perhaps even strengthens this function, by giving emphasis and

importance to the chord.

[7.2] Tonicization of the cadential IV sometimes

occurs in more complex scenarios. A case inpoint is seen in Example 16, the chorus of the

Whos Bargain. In many respects this is a

highly typical plagal stop cadence, though the

IV is somewhat expanded. (A four-measure

hypermeasure clearly begins at the beginning of

the chorus; the IV arrives in the third measure

but is then prolonged for 4 measures.) One

could well argue, also, that the IV is functioning

deceptively here: that is, we expect a I instead. It


12/17

(click to enlarge)

Example 17. Recomposition of the Whos Bargain

(click to enlarge)

is true that every phrase of the song so far has

ended in IV, so the specific context does little to

create expectation for I. But still, the schematic

expectation for I at the end of the VCU is

strongand the VCU couldhave ended at this

point, as shown in the recomposition in

Example 17. The preceding VI- VII

harmonies support this expectation as well; I is

often approached by VI- VII in rock, as seen

in songs such as Derek and the Dominoes

Layla and Blue yster Cults Dont Fear the Reaper. In addition, the melody of the second full measure of the chorus,

hovering between (C) and (A ), leads us to expect (B ) and (therefore) the tonic harmony that most often accompanies it.

[7.3] Thus the IV in Bargain is part of a plagal stop cadence, and is also functioning deceptively. There is more to be said

about the function of this chord, however. Consider, once again, the harmonies leading up to the IV chord: VI (G major) and

VII (A major). While this progression could certainly be interpreted within the main tonality (as VI- VII-IV), it also could

also be intepreted as III-IV-I in the key of IV. (This progression is also common, and occurs prominently in numerous songs,

such as Jimi Hendrixs Purple Haze and the chorus of the Beatles Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.) Again, then,

one could well argue for a tonicization of IV here. As noted earlier, such tonicizations generally require support from other

factors besides the harmonic progression itself. In this case, that support is provided by the extraordinary expansion of IV over a

four-measure span, as well as the fact that it coincides with the end of the crucial line of the chorusthe punch line, one

might say, of the entire VCUwhich gives it particular emphasis and importance. It may be that the tonicization of IV is only

perceived once the full extent of its expansion is appreciated; we then realize the possibility of reinterpreting the VI and VII

chords in that tonality.

[7.4] The tonicization of IV is also found in other plagal stop cadences. We find it in several of the songs in Table 5, such as

The Last Time, Rikki Dont Lose That Number, and Barracuda (Example 4); in each of these cases, the IV is preceded by

VII and strongly emphasized (by expansion or other means), and is thus suggested as a momentary tonal center. (In The Last

Time, it could well be argued that the tonicization of IV spans the entire chorus.) Tonicized IVs are also sometimes seen in

grand plagal cadences. Consider once again the IV in Stairway to Heaven (Example 9). Here, as noted earlier, the IV occurs

where a I is expected, and thus functions deceptively; but it is also preceded by a VII chord which, in retrospect, serves to

tonicize it.

[7.5] I have suggested that IV in rock can function harmonically in three ways: (a) as a pre-tonic chord, somewhat analogous to V

in common-practice music, forming a conventional IV-I gesture that reinforces the main tonality and implies closure; (b) as a

deceptive resolution, substituting for I in a context where I is expected; (c) as a local tonal center, tonicized by the preceding

chord or chords. All of these functions have close analogues in devices of common-practice harmony that occur at or shortly

before cadences. Consider the very standard common-practice progression in Example 18; in this progression we see examples

of a deceptive tonic substitute (the vi in measure 4), a tonicized cadential (pre-dominant) harmony (the ii-viio6/ii-ii in measure 5),

and, most obviously, a conventional pre-tonic chord (the V in measure 6). In rock as in common-practice music, all of these

functions help to anticipate and emphasize the impending cadence, contributing indirectly to its tonic-affirming and closural

effect. The difference is that in rock, unlike in common-practice music, these three functions can all be achieved by the same

chord type, and even by a single instance of the chord. In Bargain, for example (Example 16), the cadential IV acts as a tonic

substitute, a tonicized harmony, and a pre-tonic harmony all at once; the multi-faceted functional character of this chord may

account, in part, for its dramatic and intense effect.

Example 18. A conventional common-practice progression

(click to enlarge)

[7.6] Yet one more function of the cadential IV should be mentioned, relating to the large-scale tonal structure of rock songs. In

many songs, a single tonal center is asserted throughout, with no hint of departure or challenge. But it is also not uncommon to

find modulations or at least tonicizationssuggestions of, or leanings toward, alternative tonal centers. These tonicizations may

occur in the bridge or prechorus (if there is one), but they can also occur within the chorus, sometimes quite near the end. The

tonicized cadential IV is of course a case in point; but other harmonies may be tonicized as well. Consider I Want a New


13/17

Example 19. Billy Joel, Just the Way You Are

(click to enlarge)

Drug, shown in Example 7; here, the progression >III- VI- III implies a tonicization of III. (The VI could be heard as IV

of III; this alternative analysis is shown in parentheses.) This is also seen in other songs with plagal stop cadences listed in Table

5. In Sheryl Crowes Redemption Day, III is tonicized just before the cadence; in David Bowies Golden Years, the chorus

features a striking move to II. In each of these three cases, I would argue that the IV functions to repudiate the alternative tonal

center, steering the song back towards the main tonality. To make this case convincingly would require a full-fledged theory of

rock tonality. For example, in Example 7, we must explain why IV (D major) is compatible with a tonal center of A but not with

a tonal center of C (the secondary tonal center that it repudiates). I hope to address this problem in a future article. For now,

suffice it to say that the cadential IV in rock sometimes seems to serve a reorienting function, steering the tonality of a piece

back towards the main tonal center; this is another way in which the cadential IV in rock can serve multiple tonal functions.

8. Directions for Further Work

[8.1] In this paper I have suggested several ways that IV is used cadentially in rock. I first introduced the idea of a sectional

cadencea cadence at the end of the verse-chorus unit. I cited a small body of statistical evidence showing that V and IV are

the most common pre-tonic chords in sectional cadences. I discussed the plagal stop cadence, a common kind of sectional

cadence in which the instruments come to a stop on the IV chord while the vocal line continues into the cadential I,

overlapping into the beginning of the next VCU. I also introduced the grand plagal cadence, a highly emphasized IV-I motion

near the end of a song, usually with a fermata on the IV, which seems to represent a large cadence for the entire song. I noted

that cadential IV chords may function deceptively, substituting for I, and they may be tonicized by a preceding chord (usually a

VII, doubling as IV of IV). And I discussed cases in which a single IV chord serves several of these functions at once.

[8.2] Nothing has yet been said about the most common function of IV in common-practice music: as a pre-dominantharmony,

leading to V. Certainly, IV often does precede V in rock; the data in Table 2 suggests that it does so more than any other

harmony except I. We should be cautious, however, about applying the label pre-dominant in this case. To do so implicitly

invokes the entire common-practice functional taxonomy of tonic, dominant, and pre-dominant; and the applicability of this

system to rock is by no means obvious. While the term harmonic function can be construed in many ways, it is most often

used to indicate the normative contexts in which chords occur in relation to other chords: dominants move to tonics and

pre-dominants move to dominants.(15)Construed in this way, the application of the common-practice functional system to rock

would seem to fail immediately: the data in Table 2 suggests that the most common chord to precede the tonic is IV, which is

normatively a pre-dominant chord in the common-practice system. This is not to say that common-practice functional categories

are completely irrelevant to rock, or to rule out the possibility of an alternative system of functional harmonic categoriesa

topic that I cannot explore further here. But clearly, we must be skeptical of any wholesale application of common-practice

functional labels to rock harmony.

[8.3] Our focus in this paper has been on large-scale cadencescadences that end a section as opposed to merely a phrase. Up to

now we have restricted our attention to cadences ending on tonic harmony, on the grounds that these are likely to have the most

closural impact. At this point, however, it seems appropriate to revisit the possibility of large-scale cadences on non-tonic

harmonies. The obvious example from common-practice music is the half cadence; at the end of a section, a half cadence

invariably on Vprovides partial, but not complete, closure, at the same time creating anticipation for a move to tonic at thebeginning of the following section. There are often half-cadential moments in rock as well: the end of a verse or bridge is

often marked by an arrival on a non-tonic harmony which closes the section and prepares a strong move to tonic in the following

section (usually the chorus orafter the bridgesometimes the verse). What harmonies are typically employed in such

cadences? While my exploration of this topic has been very preliminary, it seems to me that IV rarely occurs in half-cadential

contexts; V is much more commonly used. Examples of half-cadential V chords at the end of the verse include the Beatles

Ticket to Ride, Bob Dylans Like a Rolling Stone, and Bostons Peace of Mind. Very few verses end on a IV chord that

seems to serve any kind of half-cadential function. (Again, the issue of distinctiveness arises here. Certainly there are verses

that end on IV, but usually this is simply because the entire verse is built on a repeating progression that happens to end on IV;

this is the case in AC/DCs Back in Black and U2s With or Without You, for example. By contrast, many IV-I sectional

cadences in rock are quite distinctive, in that they are part of a progression that occurs nowhere else in the song.)

[8.4] One important cadential chord of recent popular

music that has not been mentioned is what is sometimes

called V11

a IV triad over in the bass (Stephenson2002, Spicer 2004). (The corpus study described earlier

classified this as a kind of V chord.) The V11is more

common in other popular styles than in rock; it is a

staple of the soft rock of the 1970ssongs such as

Elton Johns Dont Let the Sun Go Down on Me and

Billy Joels Just the Way You Are (Example 19). One interesting thing about the V11is that its use is very strongly associated

with cadences; non-cadential uses of the chord seem to be relatively rare. It is not uncommon in stop cadences: Breads I Want

To Make it With You and Bob Segers Down on Main Street are examples. One could view the V11as combining features of

IV and V; it has the bass note of V but contains all the notes of IV (including the tonic, thus allowing the - cadential


14/17

approach). But the almost exclusively cadential usage of V11sets it apart from IV and V, both of which are very common in

non-cadential situations. Much more could be said about V11and about cadential patterns in recent popular styles other than

rocksoft rock, Motown, disco, and so onbut this topic is beyond our scope.

[8.5] My main aim in this paper has been to describe some common usages of the cadential IV in rock, and common contexts in

which it occurs. On a number of occasions, I have also asked whythe IV chord is used the way it iswhy particular usages are

especially common and effective. Why is IV used so often in rock cadences in general? Why is it so much more common in stop

cadences and grand cadences than V is? For the most part, my answers to such questionsif anyhave been tentative and not

very satisfactory. Of course, the question of why is often a very difficult one in music theory; answers elude us for many

aspects of common-practice harmony as well. But this should not deter us from asking it. Clearly rock has a harmonic logic allits own, quite different from that of common-practice harmony. The IV chord, despite its common use in cadences, is not

simply a surrogate for the common-practice dominant with different notes; it is used in entirely different ways. There is much

further work to be done as we seek a better understanding of rocks use of IV, and other elements of its harmonic language; I

hope the current study has brought us a small step closer to this goal.

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David Temperley

Eastman School of Music

Theory Department

26 Gibbs St.

Rochester, NY 14604

[email protected]

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Works Cited

Bharucha, Jamshed. 1994. Tonality and Expectation. In Musical Perceptions, ed. Rita Aiello, 21339. New York: Oxford

University Press.

Covach, John. 2005. Form in Rock Music: A Primer. InEngaging Music, ed. Deborah Stein, 6576. Oxford: Oxford University

Press.

Covach, John and Graeme Boone, eds. 1997. Understanding Rock: Essays in Musical Analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

de Clercq, Trevor and David Temperley. Forthcoming. A Corpus Analysis of Rock Harmony. Popular Music.

Doll, Christopher. 2007. Listening to Rock Harmony. PhD diss., Columbia University.

Everett, Walt. 2004. Making Sense of Rocks Tonal Systems.Music Theory Online10.

. 2008. Pitch Down the Middle. In Expression in Pop-Rock Music: Critical and Analytical Essays, 2nded., ed. Walt

Everett, 11174. London: Routledge Press.

. 2009. The Foundations of Rock. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Everett, Walt, ed. 2008Expression in Pop-Rock Music: Critical and Analytical Essays, 2nded. London: Routledge Press.

The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. 2004. Rolling Stoneno. 963: 65165.

Gjerdingen, Robert. 2007.Music in the Galant Style. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Harrison, Daniel. 2004. Harmonic Function in Chromatic Music. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Holm-Hudson, Kevin, ed. 2002. Progressive Rock Reconsidered. New York: Routledge.

Huron, David. 2006. Sweet Anticipation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Jackendoff, Ray. 1991. Musical Parsing and Musical Affect.Music Perception9: 199230.

Jairazbhoy, Nazir. 1971. Rags of North Indian Music: Their Structure and Evolution. London: Faber and Faber.

Laitz, Steven. 2008. The Complete Musician. New York: Oxford University Press.


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Middleton, Richard. 1990. Studying Popular Music. Buckingham, UK: Open University Press.

Moore, Allan. 1995. The So-Called Flattened Seventh in Rock. Popular Music14: 185201.

. 2001. Rock: The Primary Text: Developing a Musicology of Rock, 2nded. Aldershot, UK: Aldgate.

Narmour, Eugene. 1990. The Analysis and Cognition of Basic Melodic Structures. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Rothstein, William. 1989. Phrase Rhythm in Tonal Music. New York: Longman.

Schachter, Carl. 1980. Rhythm and Linear Analysis: Durational Reduction. In Music Forum 5, ed. Felix Salzer and CarlSchachter, 197232. New York: Columbia University Press.

Schoenberg, Arnold. 1978. Theory of Harmony. Trans. Roy Carter. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Spicer, Mark. 2004. (Ac)cumulative Form in Pop-Rock Music. Twentieth-Century Music1: 2964.

Stephenson, Ken. 2002. What to Listen for in Rock: A Stylistic Analysis. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Temperley, David. 1999. Syncopation in Rock: A Perceptual Perspective. Popular Music18: 1940.

. 2007. The Melodic-Harmonic Divorce in Rock. Popular Music26: 32342.

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Footnotes

1. There are many exceptions to this rule. In some cases, the tonality of a song is ambiguous throughout; Lynyrd Skynyrds

Sweet Home Alabama is one well-known example (see Doll 2007for discussion). As explored by Stephenson 2002and

Capuzzo 2009), different sections of a song may also imply different tonalities; it is not uncommon for the verse to imply one

tonal center while the chorus implies another (though of course, this assumes tonal centricity within sections). But in a large

majority of cases, the primary tonal center is clear and is in force through all or most of the song.

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2. While the term verse-chorus unit is new, the view of form presented here is largely in accord with other recent views

(Stephenson 2002., Covach 2005, Everett 2008, Everett 2009). In Everetts words, [p]op and rock songs nearly always have both

a verse and chorus (Everett 2009, 145). Verse-chorus alternation is reflected in Stephensons two-part strophic and verse-

chorus-bridge forms, and in Covachs verse-chorus form. My treatment of verse-refrain form as a variant of verse-chorus

form is perhaps more controversial. Stephenson notes that the refrain may sometimes begin the repeating section, and suggests

calling the repeating section a chorus in such cases. Covach distinguishes between verse-chorus form and AABA form, and

seems to place what I call verse-refrain forms in the latter category.Return to text

3. In some songs, as noted earlier, the verse and chorus are governed by different tonal centers; in such cases I would still allow

the possibility of a sectional cadence in relation to the tonal center of the chorus.

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4. See http://www.theory.esm.rochester.edu/rock_corpus .

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5. De Clerq and I were in agreement on 87% of songs (as to whether a cadence was present and, if so, what the pre-tonic root

was), and our total counts for different pre-tonic harmonies are very similar also. I include his data in Table 3, however, because

it shows that such judgments are somewhat subjective. In cases where our judgments differ, it is usually because we disagreed

over what constituted the VCU, where the vocal of the VCU ended, or whether the move to I was close enough to the end of

the vocal line to constitute a cadence.

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6. The plagal cadence occasionally occurs in common-practice music, but it is rare and carries solemn, religious connotations (the

end of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handels Messiahis a typical usage); it seems unlikely to have been the source of rocks

plagal cadence.

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7. In the Beatles Back in the USSR, the I of the cadence is arguably notreally the beginning of the second VCU; it leads to a

IV- IV-V turnaround which more plausibly marks the VCU boundary. In this case, then, the presence of a plagal stop cadence

is debatable. Another borderline case is the Rolling Stones The Last Time; in this case, the stop is present only in the third


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chorus, not in the first and second. Led Zeppelins Rock and Roll is unusual in another respect: The IV-I cadence arises as the

last two chords of a blues progression (this is the only song in Table 5 in which this occurs).

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8. Stop cadences without IV seem to employ a variety of pre-tonic harmonies, but none is especially common. In Eye of the

Tiger, as mentioned, the pre-tonic harmony is VI; in the Beatles Come Together and Bon Jovis Runaway, it is V; in

Golden Earrings Radar Love, it is VII; in Elton Johns Philadelphia Freedom and Aerosmiths Jaded, it is ii.

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9. In Get Back, a IV-I cadence occurs early in the song, after the second chorus, but a much more expanded version of thiscadence occurs after the fourth and final chorus; only in the latter case is there a fermata.

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10. A similar example is seen in the Beatles Let it Be. One might argue, in both of these cases, that the IV-I pattern arises

contrapuntally, out of an elaborated I; imagine Wasted on the Way with in the bass under the IV chord. (This is, indeed, a

common pattern, not so much in rock as in other styles such as gospel and country; Amazing Grace is sometimes harmonized

in this way, for example.) While this analysis of the deceptive IV is plausible in the case of Example 10, in many other songs, it is

not; in particular, I have in mind cases where a hypermetrical boundary separates the IV and the I, as seen in some examples

below.

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11. Deceptive cadences with IV occasionally arise in common-practice music as well; see for discussion.

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12. As far as I know, this distinction is novel, though it is similar to Narmours distinction between intra-opus and extra-opusnorms (Narmour 1990. Bharucha 1994distinguishes between schematic expectations (similar to my use of the term here) and

veridical expectations; the latter refers to expectations based on actual knowledge of a piece that one has heard before (see also

Huron 2006). Bharucha also argues convincingly, however, that schematic expectations may come into play even when

contradicted by veridical expectationsthat is, we may in some sense be surprised by a deceptive cadence even when we know it

is coming (see alsoJackendoff 1991).

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13. One could perhaps regard the IV-I cadences in Think for Yourself and Strawberry Fields Forever (mentioned earlier in

this paragraph) as grand cadences, since they only occur once; but to my mind, they do not have the emphasized, expanded

character needed for a grand cadence.

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14. Another wonderful deceptive IV is at the end of the first chorus in ABBAs Fernando. It merits a lengthy discussion, but it

is more pop than rock and is therefore somewhat beyond our scope; I leave its exploration to the reader.

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15. On harmonic function generally, see ; for an application of this approach to rock, see Doll 2007). The use of functional

labels in rules of harmonic progression is clearly seen in many theory textbooks, such as Laitz 2008.

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